URL Shorteners are OK for SEO

This subject is a bit technical but it concerns a matter that a lot of people never give any thought to. A lot of times, when people post content to their website, they may be tempted to use URL shorteners like Bit.ly or Goo.gl especially if they are also tweeting a link since you are limited to 140 characters. In the past it’s been suggested that maybe these URL shorteners are causing you to lose some ‘link juice’ because the power of that link may not flow through to your site but would instead stop with the service you used, such as Google in the case of using Goo.gl, for instance. Well, Matt Cutts, the spokesperson for all things related to SEO at Google, sets the record straight. The original question from Chris Burns in Florida: Since Google is now using Twitter and Facebook links as ranking signals, will custom URL shortners be looked at as providing anchor text on the links?